Cheezy TV; The Great VP on TMC

Don’t have to work today cuz of a training holiday, so I’m just drinking some coffee and watching Turner Movie Classics.  I’m loving it; I’m watching perhaps the finest Vincent Price movie of all time, “The Tingler”.

Okay, maybe I’m stating this tongue in cheek, but I’ve heard so much about this film, but never actually watched it.  What cheezy camp, but lot’s of fun.  Here’s what IMDB says:

The coroner and scientist Dr. Warren Chapin (Vincent Price) is researching the shivering effect of fear with his assistant David Morris (Darryl Hickman). Dr. Warren is introduced to Ollie Higgins (Philip Coolidge), the relative of a criminal sentenced to the electric chair, while making the autopsy of the corpse, and he makes a comment about the tingler-effect to him. Ollie asks for a lift to Dr. Warner, and introduces his deaf-mute wife Martha Higgins (Judith Evelyn), who manages a theater of their own. Dr. Warner returns home, where he lives with his unfaithful and evil wife Isabel Stevens Chapin (Patricia Cutts) and her sweet sister Lucy Stevens (Pamela Lincoln). Dr. Warner, upset with the situation with his wife, threatens and uses her as a subject of his experiment. When Martha dies of fear, Dr. Warner makes her autopsy and finds a creature that lives inside every human being, feeds with fear and is controlled by the scream. Once Martha was not able to scream, the tingler was not rendered harmless and became enormous. When the living being escapes, Dr. Warner and Ollie chase it in a crowded movie theater.

From what I remember from my film school days was the marketing ploy used when this movie came out.  The theater had rigged some of the seats with wires and surplus WWII Army aircraft wing de-icers.  The de-icers vibrated when activated.  The story goes that William Castle, the director, was know for his gimmicks.  He introduces the film, saying…

“I am William Castle, director of the motion picture you are about to see. I feel obligated to warn you that some of the sensations–some of the physical reactions which the actors on the screen will feel will also be experienced, for the first time in motion picture history, by certain members of this audience. I say certain members because some people are more sensitive to these mysterious electronic impulses than others. These unfortunate, sensitive people will at times feel a strange, tingling sensation; other people will feel it less strongly. But don’t be alarmed–you can protect yourself. At any time you are conscious of a tingling sensation, you may obtain immediate relief by screaming. Don’t be embarrassed about opening your mouth and letting rip with all you’ve got, because the person right next to you will probably be screaming too. And remember, a scream at the right time may save your life.”

 For the Tingler, during the climax of the movie in the theater scene…

The tingler escaped into a movie theater. On screen the projected film appeared to break as the silhouette of the tingler moved across the projection beam. The film went black, all lights in the auditorium were turned off and Vincent Price’s voice warned the audience “The Tingler is loose in THIS theater! Scream! Scream for your lives!” This cued the theatre projectionist to activate the buzzers and give several audience members an unexpected jolt.

Ah, the good ole days of quality films!